A
DARK
FUTURE?

With plans for new stadium tenuous, signs seem to be pointing out of town for Chargers

You didn’t buy enough tickets — not even close — to lift the local television blackout for Monday night’s game against the Indianapolis Colts.

Good for you. You’re not going to financially invest in a sub-par team playing in one of the worst professional stadiums in America. Everyone understands that, including the Spanos family.

And your stand continues to come with no penalty. Those of you who live in San Diego got some help again, and you will be watching your team in high definition from the comfort of your couch, with no line at the bathroom.

The Chargers avoided becoming the first team since 1999 to have a “Monday Night Football” telecast blacked out in their home market, because they and ESPN bartered with and begged sponsors to pick up the remaining 8,500 tickets.

The network said it will work with the military and charitable organizations to distribute tickets, but when you’re watching on TV Monday night, you’re going to see a lot of empty seats.

And you’ll want to cherish seeing your team.

The way things are going, they won’t be your team for too long.

This is not a scare tactic. This is truth about the issue that hovers like a threatening cloud for every Chargers fan.

In this gathering darkness, it’s not impossible to see the Chargers staying in their hometown of 43 years long term, but you have to squint and really want to make out the shape of a new stadium.

In trying to make sense of the big picture, it’s difficult to view recent happenings and not see that the Chargers’ future in San Diego is increasingly tenuous.

Remember, the only mayor (among the four who have served during the team’s decade-plus stadium campaign) that the Chargers saw as moving momentum toward a solution resigned in disgrace seven weeks ago.

Still, the Chargers went public last month with their newest plan for a multipurpose downtown stadium and announced they had hired an architect and partnered with an investment firm.

But on Thursday, the California Coastal Commission approved a Convention Center expansion that is in competition with the Chargers’ proposal. The expansion plan, while still facing legal hurdles, is supported by powerful local labor leaders and at least two of the four mayoral candidates.

And in the midst of all this political setback, the team had to rely on sponsors to guarantee the final 3,000 or so tickets would be sold so its season opener could be televised locally and now sponsors picked up almost three times that many tickets for the Colts game.

Just as fans can’t be blamed for not buying tickets to see a disappointing team in a dilapidated stadium, the Spanos family can’t be blamed for losing its resolve to stay in San Diego after years of fighting the good fight.

Chargers President Dean Spanos won’t say it. Of course he won’t. To do so would be to invite not only wrath but apathy.